QB Coach Lee: I'm going with the expert.

[3rdand12]

Havent seen anyone mention this yet, and can't remember which article, but Lee said Fitz looks off the defense too long. He doesn't give himself enough time to lead the receiver properly or see defenders jumping the route. Lee mentioned that he was also trying to get him to look at the receiver he is planning on throwing too a bit earlier and that should help both with getting proper foot work, properly leading the receivers, and giving bit more of a chance to see a defender that he didn't expect to be there.

 

Of course there also is chance he may look too early at times trying to fix this which would help the safety jump routes as well.

 

Between the mechanics and adjustments like these, think Fitz will improve this year. Course defenses have allot more film on him and what he is good at, so even with improvement, may not get the numbers he had early in year last year. He shouldn't drop to level he was at end of last year either though.

 

Think will help him be more consistent and with the improve defense, allow him to work on getting his won/lost back near 500 mark for Bills.

I might have mentioned it. " I may not notice the detail in his mechanics with his feet and lower body, or if he looks off a couple milleseconds quicker." I am paying attention although may be hard to decipher.

But i agree Ryan Fixt will likely improve. And that will show in the stats. reduced INTs and by leading receivers, YAC. A weakness on our team.

[DefenseWinzChampionshipz]

Let's see...38 years coaching experience, has worked with Romo and E. Manning, and from Wawrow's article:

 

"To Lee, Fitzpatrick has all the tools - confidence, toughness, mobility and plenty of arm strength [emphasis mine]- to succeed at this level. It's just a matter of smoothing out the rough edges."

 

With all due respect to the insightful posters on this board who have questioned Fitz's skills and have called him a "backup at best," I'm going to go with the expert on this one. I am not slamming your opinions, just suggesting that there's a chance that this guy can "smooth out the rough edges" and get Fitz to the next level.

 

Maybe I've had too much of the Kool-Aid.

 

 

Just having fun... I'm team Fitzy til I see we have someone better. Out of the QB's we have, Fitz is clearly the best...

Edited June 9, 2012 by DefenseWinzChampionshipz

[#34fan]

The Tony Romo who in 5 1/2 seasons as an NFL starter has thrown for over 20,000 yards and has a career 96.9 QB rating, 64.5 completion %, 8.0 yards per attempt, and a 149-72 TD-INT ratio?

 

That Tony Romo?

 

 

 

You mean the same Tony Romo who seems to choke ON CUE in big games.

 

And the same Romo wo hasn't beat the Giants since 2008!

 

-How many playoff games has Romo won?

 

No offense, but Tony Romo isn't the type of achievement a so-called "QB GURU" should hang his hat on. -JMO.

[Ronin]

Let's see...38 years coaching experience, has worked with Romo and E. Manning, and from Wawrow's article:

 

"To Lee, Fitzpatrick has all the tools - confidence, toughness, mobility and plenty of arm strength [emphasis mine]- to succeed at this level. It's just a matter of smoothing out the rough edges."

 

With all due respect to the insightful posters on this board who have questioned Fitz's skills and have called him a "backup at best," I'm going to go with the expert on this one. I am not slamming your opinions, just suggesting that there's a chance that this guy can "smooth out the rough edges" and get Fitz to the next level.

 

Maybe I've had too much of the Kool-Aid.

 

The Bills have had "experts" running this team into the ground for years.

 

Listening to another one shouldn't excite anyone given their track record.

 

As merely one example, remember when everyone was on board the Trent Edwards Express just because former Niners great coach Bill Walsh said that Edwards was going to be great. Yeah, well ...

 

And what makes Lee such an expert anyway? His biggest claim to fame is the wildcat, a gimmick offensive set w/ limited use.

 

Are you impressed with his work on Henne, a former 2nd rounder and now all but journeyman backup, while he was at Miami?

 

I think you've had too much of the Kool-Aid.

 

We'll find out this season though, but when a QB has a passing game built around him that relies on shorter passes to the extent that we had one of the shortest passing games in the league last year and ahead of only a few scrub teams, but he still leads the league in INTs, that's not good.

 

Also not good is that Fitz cannot seem to capitalize except early in a season and in a new system that opponents haven't seen. This season he starts using the same essential offensive scheme as last season, so we should know right quick whether he's more of a backup than he is a starter.

 

We're also going to find out if Nix and Gailey are starters or backups too. Third season after having posted the worst two-season combined record for the team since the Stephenson years. 9-7, a winning season, is minimally acceptable at this point, wouldn't you agree?

[Rivermont Mike]

The Bills have had "experts" running this team into the ground for years.

 

Listening to another one shouldn't excite anyone given their track record.

 

As merely one example, remember when everyone was on board the Trent Edwards Express just because former Niners great coach Bill Walsh said that Edwards was going to be great. Yeah, well ...

 

And what makes Lee such an expert anyway? His biggest claim to fame is the wildcat, a gimmick offensive set w/ limited use.

 

Are you impressed with his work on Henne, a former 2nd rounder and now all but journeyman backup, while he was at Miami?

 

I think you've had too much of the Kool-Aid.

 

We'll find out this season though, but when a QB has a passing game built around him that relies on shorter passes to the extent that we had one of the shortest passing games in the league last year and ahead of only a few scrub teams, but he still leads the league in INTs, that's not good.

 

Also not good is that Fitz cannot seem to capitalize except early in a season and in a new system that opponents haven't seen. This season he starts using the same essential offensive scheme as last season, so we should know right quick whether he's more of a backup than he is a starter.

 

We're also going to find out if Nix and Gailey are starters or backups too. Third season after having posted the worst two-season combined record for the team since the Stephenson years. 9-7, a winning season, is minimally acceptable at this point, wouldn't you agree?

My original point: as soon as Lee was hired and his opinions hit the media, this board lit up with people picking apart Fitz's mechanics and explaining why he wouldn't be able to open up his hip, no time for muscle memory, etc. etc. etc. All I'm saying is that, with respect to other posters, I am going to stick with the opinions of a professional coach who is actually on the field working with our QB. Lee and Fitz might fail completely, but then again, Lee might change one little glitch in Fitz's throwing that could result in a few more completions in a game.

 

The only thing that is minimally acceptable at this point is a wildcard spot.

 

GO BILLS!

[paintmyhouse]

:thumbsup:

 

Exactly!

 

However, if everyone agreed on everything, it would get really boring around here. I'm glad people's opinions differ.

 

For those of you like paintmyhouse who cite why think Fitz sucks - how about coming up with a viable alternative? Tavaris Jackson had a better QB rating. Awesome. Should the Bills go out and trade for him?

 

I'm not talking about what the Bills should have done in the past - e.g. "they never should've signed Fitz in the first place." I'm saying look at the Bills today; What do you do? IMO, any realistic move you make going forward is riskier than staying with Fitz for the time being.

 

Maybe that premise isn't fair, since the Fitz "haters" probably wouldn't have signed him in the first place, but I'm sure with the benefit of hindsight we could all come up with a roster chock full of Pro Bowlers. So let's look at the present situation and take it from there.

 

I am not a Fitz hater at all, he just stinks as a starting NFL QB, and there is nothing that can be shown he is even close to average.He basically sucks. Bills would win more if Young was starting, no matter what his stats are.

 

Even Jackson wins more than Fitzpatrick, who is a loser, has nothing clutch about him at all. Fitzpatrick has shown that anyone but him is a better option because he just is not good, has never been good, and has shown by his career and his 4 seasons in a row of extended play as a starter that he will never get better. The Bills are better off playing anyone else.

[buffaloboyinATL]

Very little chance Fitz ever gets better, has not been a top 20 guy, he could max out around 15, just not good enough.

Even if this is true, in a league that barely has 32 men capable of the demands of being a number 1 QB in the NFL, I will take top 15. Teams can win without a top 10 QB. I am happy with Fitz as our QB if he is anywhere near where he was before the injury last year.

[3rdand12]

My original point: as soon as Lee was hired and his opinions hit the media, this board lit up with people picking apart Fitz's mechanics and explaining why he wouldn't be able to open up his hip, no time for muscle memory, etc. etc. etc. All I'm saying is that, with respect to other posters, I am going to stick with the opinions of a professional coach who is actually on the field working with our QB. Lee and Fitz might fail completely, but then again, Lee might change one little glitch in Fitz's throwing that could result in a few more completions in a game.

 

The only thing that is minimally acceptable at this point is a wildcard spot.

 

GO BILLS!

On the bright side of this all this discussion... is that Buffalo Bills are addressing all our perceived weaknesses this year.

all of them. Including Ryan. Whether we see positive results or not, it is not for lack of effort by our staff.

Just keep in mind the hole we are climbing out of. I am sure we are looking to draft a qb next year. But we had to fix the biggest problem first. Worst defense.

As far as Lee and Fitz and V Young, i expect improvement this year. Not sure how much, but as i said it's not for a lack of solid effort.

[T master]

link

 

 

Good read thanks !!

[Mickey]

Let's see...38 years coaching experience, has worked with Romo and E. Manning, and from Wawrow's article:

 

"To Lee, Fitzpatrick has all the tools - confidence, toughness, mobility and plenty of arm strength [emphasis mine]- to succeed at this level. It's just a matter of smoothing out the rough edges."

 

With all due respect to the insightful posters on this board who have questioned Fitz's skills and have called him a "backup at best," I'm going to go with the expert on this one. I am not slamming your opinions, just suggesting that there's a chance that this guy can "smooth out the rough edges" and get Fitz to the next level.

 

Maybe I've had too much of the Kool-Aid.

I certainly agree that what and expert like Lee thinks matters ore than any of the jibber-jabber (it's an industry term) you hear around here. However, Lee could hardly be expected to be truthful in that situation. If he thought Fitz had the weakest arm in the league, do you think he would say that publicly?!? What he did say is just the kind of press kit babble they are taught to say. In fact, its is his job to say stuff like that.

 

We are all hungry for information, especially of the inside variety but you can't let that desire cause you to overlook that every member of the team and the staff is trained by the public relations people to puff the team and the players. Once in a blue someone messes that up or a reporter does some actual reporting and you then you get a peek behind the curtain.

 

We need to win games and Fitzy was a huge reason why we won some games last year but he is also part of the reason we lost so many. Certainly, he wasn't the only reason or even the biggest reason but no doubt, he missed open people that in a few games may have made a difference. If this guy helps him with those throws than we are going to be just fine with Fitz.

 

 

Edited June 10, 2012 by Mickey

[Doc]

I certainly agree that what and expert like Lee thinks matters ore than any of the jibber-jabber (it's an industry term) you hear around here. However, Lee could hardly be expected to be truthful in that situation. If he thought Fitz had the weakest arm in the league, do you think he would say that publicly?!? What he did say is just the kind of press kit babble they are taught to say. In fact, its is his job to say stuff like that.

 

We are all hungry for information, especially of the inside variety but you can't let that desire cause you to overlook that every member of the team and the staff is trained by the public relations people to puff the team and the players. Once in a blue someone messes that up or a reporter does some actual reporting and you then you get a peek behind the curtain.

 

We need to win games and Fitzy was a huge reason why we won some games last year but he is also part of the reason we lost so many. Certainly, he wasn't the only reason or even the biggest reason but no doubt, he missed open people that in a few games may have made a difference. If this guy helps him with those throws than we are going to be just fine with Fitz.

I'd expect him to say nothing, or at least say "arm strength is overrated."

 

And considering Fitz himself said he never had a QB coach teach him the mechanics of the position, it tells me he can use, and benefit from, work on his mechanics. If the OL can sustain blocks better, especially the LT, this will be a potent offense.

[3rdand12]

I agree Doc. Lee did point out and was quoted saying Fitz missed throws behind his receiver for the same reasons of mechanics. It's not like he didn't give Ryan some honest criticism on the airwaves. He also said after reviewing 500 plays or something that he felt there is some specefics that will improve Fitzes play IF he was willing to listen. Seems like Ryan is more than willing to improve under Lee's tutelage at this point.

But as so many have mentioned we shall see!

[WildBills]

Blind hopefulness for Fitz makes me sick. He is nothing more than a back up quarterback. When will you freaking people get it?

[beerme1]

But i agree Ryan Fixt will likely improve. And that will show in the stats. reduced INTs and by leading receivers, YAC. A weakness on our team.

 

 

We have a new QB and his name is Ryan Fixedpatrick.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

I'd expect him to say nothing, or at least say "arm strength is overrated."

 

And considering Fitz himself said he never had a QB coach teach him the mechanics of the position, it tells me he can use, and benefit from, work on his mechanics. If the OL can sustain blocks better, especially the LT, this will be a potent offense.

 

Actually, he (or it might have been Chan) did say something that kind of amounted to "arm strength is overrated" in an interview a while back. It was to the effect that people think arm strength is the most important factor for throwing the football and it's not, it's the lower body. (I had a try at finding the link and it seems to be aged off of buffalobills.com, or maybe they have an archive I don't know about).

 

I am not a Fitz hater at all, he just stinks as a starting NFL QB, and there is nothing that can be shown he is even close to average.He basically sucks. Bills would win more if Young was starting, no matter what his stats are.

 

Even Jackson wins more than Fitzpatrick, who is a loser, has nothing clutch about him at all. Fitzpatrick has shown that anyone but him is a better option because he just is not good, has never been good, and has shown by his career and his 4 seasons in a row of extended play as a starter that he will never get better. The Bills are better off playing anyone else.

 

If you're not a Fitz hater and rather ignorant about football, you're a Troll, and not a particularly clever or effective one at that.

Order: Bridge, One, Paintmyhouse, for the use of, Under.

[Meathead]

I'm really starting to appreciate your posting style. Eclectic with its own inner rhythm and displaying a Kerouak-like freedom from the fetters of anything actually said yet somehow capturing the reduced essence, topped with a wasabi garnish and a small piece of stilton cheese.

awesome

[Doc]

Blind hopefulness for Fitz makes me sick. He is nothing more than a back up quarterback. When will you freaking people get it?

When will you get over your crusade?

[Meathead]

barring an early injury, we will find out this season if fitz is the franchise level qb hes being paid at. either he plays a lot closer to the guy that brought them to 5-2, or he really is only the great backup that flounders more than he flourishes. if he doesnt do it consistently this year they will terminate his contract before his '13 roster bonus and move on

Edited June 10, 2012 by Meathead

[Hapless Bills Fan]

barring an early injury, we will find out this season if fitz is the franchise level qb hes being paid at. either he plays a lot closer to the guy that brought them to 5-2, or he really is only the great backup that flounders more than he flourishes. if he doesnt do it consistently this year they will terminate his contract before his '13 roster bonus and move on

 

This.

 

Also, unless the talent crop looks very lean indeed, there's a very high probability the Bills take a QB high in the draft next year. If Fitz flounders, they will go for someone who seems "NFL ready" even if it means trading up. If he flourishes, they will look for someone they believe can become the starter after a couple years seasoning.

[3rdand12]

Blind hopefulness for Fitz makes me sick. He is nothing more than a back up quarterback. When will you freaking people get it?

Blind? well in regards to getting it, i sure hope it's not conatagious. haha jk!

 

barring an early injury, we will find out this season if fitz is the franchise level qb hes being paid at. either he plays a lot closer to the guy that brought them to 5-2, or he really is only the great backup that flounders more than he flourishes. if he doesnt do it consistently this year they will terminate his contract before his '13 roster bonus and move on

Exactly sir

 

This.

 

Also, unless the talent crop looks very lean indeed, there's a very high probability the Bills take a QB high in the draft next year. If Fitz flounders, they will go for someone who seems "NFL ready" even if it means trading up. If he flourishes, they will look for someone they believe can become the starter after a couple years seasoning.

I agree regardless as to whether Fitz does well or poorly we will not sit on our hands with this. Bringing in Vince no matter how well he might play is still stop gap measure imho. we needed to fix the biggest issue first and fill some chinks in the armor. If we can get Fitz steady we can have a starting run at something good long term.

Edited June 10, 2012 by 3rdand12